


A Fall

by orphan_account



Series: A Fall [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: But this is undertale, F/M, Female Chara, Gen, Knives, Major character death - Freeform, Narrator Chara, Nonbinary Frisk, Original Character(s), POV First Person, POV Third Person, Soft Chara, affair, i just went ahead and added all the characters that will ever show up, so theylll be alive again, sue me, thats right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-09 00:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7779205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Elizabeth Ruth falls into the underground, she's sobbing, pregnant, and wishes she never went to the party on Mount Ebbot. </p>
<p>Years later, when yet another human falls, she wonders if this is her chance to finally go home.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Alexandria and Justina have never left the Ruins. They want to see the sun, and feel the warmth. So when another human falls, they're ready to leave with them.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Frisk and Chara are really confused. Never in any of the timelines has there been people in the Ruins. Maybe this reset they'll finally get to live on the surface.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I can't believe you James

**PART ONE**

 

Elizabeth Ruth considered herself lucky. After all, she had a loving husband, James, a great best friend, Mariah, and was pregnant with her first born. James had been hesitant at first, but finally agreed, that yes, he wanted children.

Elizabeth (or Liz, as she prefered) lived in a large town named Ebott, after the mountain next to it. Liz loved looking at the large, picturesque, mountain each morning, and was ecstatic when she found a letter in the mail one September morning, with a picture of the mountain on it.

“James!” Liz called, pushing her red curly hair back, and wishing for a hair tie. “We have an invitation to a party on Ebott!”

James stuck his head around the corner, and smiled at his wife. He decided to crop his brown hair close to his pale head. Liz didn’t particularly like the decision, but Mariah assured her it looked lovely.

“When’s the party, darling?”

“In two weeks. Oh, there’s a guest list included!” Liz scanned the list.

“Anyone we know?”

“Well, other than Maggie and Aaron, nobody. And they’re hosting the party- oh!”  
“Oh?”  
“Mariah’s invited! Isn’t that wonderful?”  
“Very. I can’t wait.”

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

On the day of the party, Liz found herself in a beautiful but comfortable blue dress. The neckline was an elegant curve, and the ¾ sleeves ended loosely. The dress fell to a little past her knees. Liz smiled. It was perfect. Her life was perfect.

And the the house on the base of the mountain was just gorgeous! Liz found herself a bit jealous of Maggie and Aarons new house, though, as she learned, they never went very far up the mountain.

“This house is amazing! Maggie, dear, you must have people over more often!” A women in a red dress gushed to Maggie.

“Isn’t it?” Maggie laughed. “I’d love to have company, but we just moved. Gracie’s been good about it, though, she’s in the living room coloring.”

Liz thought that maybe it’d be nice to talk to Gracie, Maggie’s daughter. She had lost both James and Mariah in the crowd, and her head was starting to hurt. It’d be nice to get out of the crowd.

Liz left the large dining room, and entered the living room. It was cozy, with soft brown couches and red blankets. Sitting alone on a couch was Gracie. Her dark hair was up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a light pink dress. Gracie hummed softly as she colored.

“Gracie!” Liz called. Gracie looked up.

“Lizzy!” Gracie flashed Liz a wide smile, and patted the couch next to her. “Come sit with me!”

“Alright. What are you drawing, Gracie?”

“My ancestors! Mommy and daddy told me all about them! They’re monsters.”  
“Monsters?”

“Yeah! My great-great-great-great, well, lot’s of greats, grandma, was adopted by monsters when her mommy died!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! One of them was a skeleton and one was a goat lady! Or a sheep lady. I dunno, I forget.”

“Wow!”

“I know, right?”  
“What happened to them?”  
“Well, after the war, the monsters had to leave.”

“Wow! How does your family know about it?”  
“They got told! There are reeeeeeeeally old pictures of them! And there’s old stuff, like furniture and clothes. Daddy didn’t believe Mommy until he showed her the photo.”  
“Can I see?”

“Oh, no, sorry. I shouldn’t have told you. You won’t tell anyone, right?” Gracie looked worried.

Liz laughed, pulled Gracie into a hug, then stood up. Her head felt a little better. “Of course not. I’ll see you later, Gracie.”

“Okay! See you later, Lizzy!”

Liz left the room smiling. She couldn’t wait until she had a child of her own, to tell her silly stories, and to hug. She had to see James!

Liz picked up a flute of champagne, took a small sip, and set off to find James. As she walked, she felt a kind of pulsing in her chest. The feeling got stronger as she walked, and it started to hurt slightly. Liz didn’t really understand, but kept walking. She felt that something would happen if she stopped.

Liz reached a hallway, with doors on both sides, and one at the end. She stopped. The pulsing in her chest was hurting more, but she heard voices and laughter coming from the room at the end of the hall.

Only two voices. A man and a women. And she recognized both of them. Her steps quieter now, she walked slowly up the hallway, champagne loose in her hand. Then the male voice spoke loudly, and she stopped. It was James.

“I tell you, Mariah, but I never wanted the baby.”

“But you said a while ago you did?”  
“Just to please Liz, you know?”  
“Of course. When we’re together, we won’t have kids, will we?”

James laughed. “‘Course not! Unless you want them?”

“Never! I hate children. I don’t know what Liz was thinking.”  
“Me too. But I have you, now, and I love you.”

Mariah paused. “You love me more than Elizabeth?”

“Of course!”  
“Say it.”

“I love you more than Elizabeth, Mariah.”

Laughter.

Liz stepped closer, she threw open the door, she stared at her best friend and husband, she watched them kiss. James’s jacket was thrown over a chair, Mariah’s dress was unzipped slightly.

Liz staggered, she dropped the glass. The sound of it breaking against the hard wooden floor made the pair look up. Their eyes widened.

“Liz!”  
“What are you doing here?”  
“YOU-” Liz cried out, her voice breaking. “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU.” Liz could hear the chatter from the party stop, people asking what was going on, who was shouting.

“You don’t understand, Elizabeth.”  
“YOU CHEATED ON ME WITH MY BEST FRIEND.” Liz took a step back. Just one. “MARIAH- YOU- MY BEST FRIEND! WITH MY HUSBAND! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU.” She took another step back. Just one. Liz’s vision blurred, she touched her cheek. Tears trickled down.

“Elizabeth, calm down! You don’t understand!”  
“I UNDERSTAND ENOUGH! I SAW YOU KISSING! I HEARD YOU TALKING! I CAN’T- I CAN’T BELIEVE IT.” Liz took another staggering step backwards, then turned around and ran.

She pushed through the crowd, shoving people in dresses and suits out of the way. She heard glass breaking. She didn’t care.

Liz ignored the people asking her questions, asking if she was okay. She wasn’t. She felt that they already knew that.

Liz pushed open the backdoor, and started running up the mountain. She ignored how dirty she was getting, or how tired. She just ran.

There was a root in front of her. Liz didn’t care.

Liz tripped. Instead of falling down, landing on the cold, hard ground, and sobbing her eyes out, she fell.

She kept falling.

She remembered the stories of people going missing on Mount Ebbot.

Liz sobbed.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach, and wondered if she was going to ever going to see the sun again.

She fell into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I made any mistakes, please tell me! 
> 
> Also, comment! I'd love to hear what you guys think.
> 
> In other news, it's going to be in first person from now on!
> 
> EDIT: I've fixed up the formatting a bit!


	2. Looks who's here!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter! This chapter is in first-person, narrated by one of Liz's children.

“MOM!” Justina called. “ME AND ALEX ARE GOING TO GO CHECK THE FALL SPOT!”  
“Alright! Be safe!” Liz called back.

Justina turned to me, her twin sister, and smiled and grabbed my arm. I grinned and laughed, and we began the walk.

Justina, or Tina, as she preferred, has a yellow soul, which represents justice. My name is Alexandria, or Alex, as I prefer. I have a purple perseverance soul. And after Liz’s fall, our mother, she learned that she had a green kindness soul.

Tina and I both thick brown hair, which we get from our father, apparently. Mom doesn’t talk about him often. Tina always keeps her hair in a ponytail, and I like to keep mine held back by a headband.

Our skin is pale, from both of our parents being white, and also never actually seeing the sun.

Toriel makes us all clothing. She had given us both green and yellow sweaters at first, but we didn’t really like them. So instead, I wear a knee length blue dress with dark blue leggings, and a purple sweater that’s the shade of my soul.

Tina wears long brown pants that Toriel pulled out of the closet, a green shirt, and a yellow sweater the color of her soul.

I like my outfit better, but hey, whatever.

As we walk, we talk about life what we think life beyond the Ruins is like. So far, seven humans (not including Mom) have fallen into the underground. We’ve known two. I really liked them, but they left. We talked on the phone with them when they could, but well, they died.

Mom and Toriel don’t want us to leave.

“Do you think Mom’s going to let us go out there one day? She’s been out there! And we’re fourteen! You’d think she’d trust us more, you know?” Tina says with a little laugh.

I shrugged. “Well, I don’t know. They’ve all died. There’s very little we could do about that.”

“Yeah, but what about us? There’s two of us! I’m justice, you’re perseverance, we could make it to the barrier!”

“We’d have to kill Asgore.”  
“Yeah, I know, but we’d be avenging the death of the other seven!”

I turn to Tina with wide eyes. “You can’t be serious! We should just wait it out until we’re old enough to leave!”

Tina groans. “Wait wait wait, that’s all you do!”

“What do you think perseverance means, idiot?”  
“It doesn’t mean doing nothing! It means doing something, and not stopping! It means keeping doing something in spite of the obstacles!”  
“Sounds more like determination to me, Justina.”

“YOU KNOW I DON’T LIKE MY FULL NAME!” Tina pauses. “Alexandria.”

“STOP!” I shout.

We hear a groan, and both of us freeze, insults bitten back by curiosity.

“Uh, Alex?”

“Yeah?”  
“I think another human fell. The last one needed.”

We stare at eachother for a moment, then turn and run towards the Fall Spot. And sure enough, a human is laying in the flowers, unmoving. We stop and stare.

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

“Uh, hello?” I speak first. This isn’t what Toriel and Mom tell us to say, but it’s enough. The human looks up.

I can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl, they way they look. Their hair is a red-brown color, and ends hallway between their chin and their shoulders. They’re wearing a blue and purple sweater, with blue being the main color, and purple being the stripes. They’re also wearing blue shorts.

The human gets shakily to their feet, and stares at us, with wide red eyes. I didn’t know red was a human eye color! I thought Mom said only monsters have it. We have hazel eyes.

“What’s your name?” Tina asks.

They stare at us a little more, before saying, “Frisk.”

“Oh, okay! Hello, Frisk! I’m sorry, I can’t tell, but are you a boy or a girl?” I ask.

Frisk smiles a little. “I’m neither. I go by they and their.”

Tina looks surprised. “Oh, okay! I didn’t know you could do that. Me and my sister were born here.”  
Frisk looks thoughtful. “Cool. What are your names?”

“My names Alexandria, but I go by Alex.”

“I’m Justina, but I go by Tina.” Tina smiles. “We need to bring you to Mom and Toriel.”  
“Mom and Toriel?” Frisk asks, looking surprised, and stressing the and.

“Yeah,” I answer. “Toriel is a goat monster who lives here. Oh!” I pause. “I forget to say monsters are real. But, uh, do you need help walking?”

“No, I’m fine. Lead the way, I guess.” They wave ahead, and I smile.

“Okay. This way!”

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

As we walk, Frisk looks around. They watch as we complete the first puzzle, and as we open doors.

“You guys said that you were born here?”

“Yeah,” Tina nods. “Our mom fell down a while ago, when she was pregnant with us. We’re both fourteen now. How old are you?”  
“Me? Oh, I’m-” They pause to think. “I’m thirteen.”

“Cool!” I grin. “It’s nice when people are close in age to us. They last humans to fall are- uh, were, fifteen and ten.” Frisk doesn’t ask about what happened to the last humans, which I’m happy about.

Frisk nods, and looks at Tina’s pants. “Where’d you get the pants?”

“Oh, these? Toriel got them out of the closet. Why?”

“Nothing, just wondering. Can you tell me about this place? And where I am?”

“Okay!” I think about where to start. “So, um, a really long time ago, there was this war. Between humans and monsters. Humans won, and made the monsters go into this mountain, where they’ve stayed ever since, because of the barrier. Nothing but a human and a boss monster soul can pass the barrier, and it would take seven souls to break the barrier.”

“And a while ago, I don’t know how long,” Tina takes over the story. “There was this kid who fell. Her name was Chara, and she got adopted by Toriel and Asgore, the Queen and King.”

Frisk looks at a spot to their left, and tilts their head.

Tina continues the story. “And they really loved Chara. Like how they loved their son, Asriel. But Chara got sick, like really sick, and died. Asriel took Chara’s soul, and crossed the barrier. But the humans out there attacked him or something, and he staggered back across the barrier, with Chara’s body, and collapsed.”

“He dusted, to his parents, and the entire undergrounds, horror.” I think for a moment. “And dusted means died, I think. Because humans just die, but when monsters die, they turn to dust.”

“Wow.” Frisk seems to be taking it in. “So, what happened to the other humans who fell?”

“They got killed by monsters outside of the Ruins, because they want their soul to break the barrier. They only need one more soul to break the barrier, and then all humans are going to die.”  
Frisk nods. “What about you guys? Have you guys ever left the Ruins?”

Tina pouts. “No, because Mom and Toriel won’t let us. Mom’s gone a couple times, though. She always gets us stuff from the outside.”

Frisk looks like they’re going to ask another question, but Tina points ahead. “Look, there’s our house!” She turns to Frisk and smiles. “Come on, let’s introduce you to Toriel and Mom. I’m sure you’ll love them!”

We’re home. Frisk stands in front of the door, staring at a point in the ground.   
“Hey, don’t be afraid. It’s okay,” I say, trying to be reassuring. Then I open the door, stick my head inside, and shout, “WE’RE HOME! AND WE FOUND A HUMAN!”

Tina turns to Frisk. “Let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you notice anything wrong, or if you just want to say something! I'd love to hear what you guys think!
> 
> EDIT: I fixed the formatting a bit


	3. At the doorway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but I will update again today. Probably. Most likely. 
> 
> Tell me if you like how I've done Chara's text. I think I'm satisfied with how she talks.

I stand at the doorway, looking in.

Tina has already rushed in, rushed into my home. Chara is leaning against the wall, her eyes closed, and arms crossed. I want to say something to her, but I also don’t want either of the twins thinking I’m crazy, since they clearly can’t see her.

Alex smiles at me, and says, “I know you’re probably a bit scared, but it’s okay! Toriel is really nice once you get used to her, I think. I mean, all monsters are in general. I guess it’s different for the Fallen Ones, but you’ll be okay.”

Oh. She thinks I’m scared? About meeting monsters? Hah. This is the first time I’ve seen other humans in so long. “No, I”m okay. Hey, can I have a moment outside? I’ll be in quickly.”

Alex tilts her head at me. “Alright, I guess. Just, don’t run off or anything? Okay?” “Yeah. Okay.” Alex nods and goes inside, closing the door half-way.

“Chara, are you alright?”

_*Me? I’m fine_.

“Are you sure?”

_*Yeah, of course! It’s just-_  Chara pauses, frowns, and opens her red eyes. She stops leaning against the wall, and sighs. _*She’s wearing my clothes, Frisk!_

“Yeah? I saw. What about it?”

_*It’s annoying!_

“Nobody thinks you exist anymore, Chara.”

_ *I know. _

“Are you ready to go in?”

_ *I’m ready to be disappointed. I’m ready to see changes that I have never seen before to a house a lived in for a few years, before moving to the house that I eventually died in.  _

“Are you sure? That doesn’t sound too ready, Chara.”

Chara looks at the door, and laughs softly. 

_ *Well, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. _

I turn to face the door more directly, and place a hand on it. 

"Then let's go."  


I open the door, and we step inside.

 


	4. An Important Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Tina have a conversation. Decisions are made.
> 
> Sorry I didn't post this yesterday! I didn't write as much as I wanted to yesterday, but the chapters out today!

“How long is she going to take out there?” I sigh, and fall backwards onto the couch.

  
“They, Tina, they,”  Toriel gently reminds me.

“Oh. Yeah. How long are they going to take out there?”

“Don’t know, sweetie.” Mom comes to sit next to me. “But we should give them time, after all, it’s hard to get used to the Ruins after being on the surface”

“Hello?” A voice calls out. It’s Frisk! 

“Frisk!” I bounce up off the couch and go to greet them by the door. “Come in!” 

Alex looks up from her notebook. Mom got it for her once, from an old turtle man. She said that the man didn’t realise that she was a human, but Toriel was uncertain. Either way, she got us both notebooks, but I don’t use mine, so I gave it to Alex instead. She was pretty happy about that. 

Frisk steps inside and looks around. Toriel’s house is different than what it used to be. The guest room is Alex and I’s, and the other room is Mom’s. Toriel and some of the other monsters in the Ruins added another room to the house, next to the kitchen, and that’s the dining room. What used to be the dining room/living room is now just the living room. 

The entrance hall and the basement stairs are visible from the living room.

“Come in, come in!” I say, and after a second thought, I add, “Come this way, to the living room!”

“Alright,” Is the only answer I get from Frisk, who seems to be lost in thought. They look like they’re listening to something, and they smile. Huh.

Alex sets aside her notebook and stands. “Toriel! Come meet Frisk!”

Toriel steps out of the kitchen, and sees Frisk standing there. Frisk stares at Toriel and smiles a little. 

“Hi. I’m Frisk.”

“Hello! Ah, you look like someone I used to know, my child.”  
“Really? Interesting.” Frisk yawns, and asks the room in general, “Is there somewhere I can sleep? I’m kind of tired.”

“Of course!” Mom waves down the hall. “Girls, can you show Frisk where they’ll be sleeping?”

“Sure.” I start walking towards the hallway, the turn towards Alex. “She means you to, Alex.”

“Fine.” Alex joins me at the entrance to the hallway, and we walk to our room. Frisk trails a little behind, looking at everything. We stop at our room, and open the door. Our room is very red, with red painted walls and redish floor boards. Our beds are on both sides, with a bed next to the door.

“That bed is mine,” I point to the bed on the far right, with yellow sheets. 

“That one’s Alex’s,” I point to the bed on the left, with purple sheets. 

“This one's yours!” Alex taps the bed next to the door. “There’s a box at the end with some various stuff, and you can put what you want in it. The two wardrobes are ours, but you can look through them, I guess. If you want to. If you want to read something there’s a bunch of books on the bookshelf over there. We’ve read them all, but you might get a kick out of it or something.”  
“Alright.” Frisk nods, and kicks off their shoes.

“Do you want us to wake you up for dinner?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

“Alright! We’ll wake you up when it’s time.”  
Alex and I leave the room and close the door behind us. 

“Hey, Alex, let’s go outside. I want to talk to you about something.”

“Sure.”

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

 

We sit on the purple steps outside with our knees touching, and Alex’s notebook spread across our laps. We each have a pencil.

“So, all we know for sure is the Ruins. Here’s Toriel’s house,” I sketch the basic shape of her house, with a rectangle for the stairs to the basement. 

“Is that the stairs?”

“Yeah. So there’s a passageway to the door of the ruins. A really long one.” I draw it. “And after that there’s the woods, and the passageway there. Mom told us about that one. There’s a bridge… about here, I would think.” Alex draws simple shapes for the trees, and labels the area, SNOWY WOODS. “After that, there’s, uh, a long walk, I guess. With lots of cliffs and stuff. And then Snowdin.” Alex just draws some lines with a big question mark over them, then a collection of squares she labels SNOWDIN.

“Yeah! After that there’s Waterfall, which she said is really pretty. And wet.” I label the next bit WATERFALL. “After Waterfall is Hotland, right?”

“I think so. But what about Waterfall, do we know enough to map at least a little?”

“No, I don’t think so. But Toriel’s mention the Garbage Dump and Temmie Village a couple of times, right? So we could put there.”

“Alright.” Alex writes DUMP, TEMMIE VILLAGE, and TURTLE SHOP under the area label. “What about after Waterfall?”

“Hotland.” I draw a vague pathway next to the vague area of Waterfall, and I label it HOTLAND. “And Toriel said that the Royal Scientist lives there! And that the lab is right next to the entrance to Hotland.” I add it to the map.

“Isn’t New Home next?” Alex asks.

“Yeah, I think so.” I add it. “And there’s an apartment building between Hotland and New Home, right?” 

“I think. Wait, no, it’s the Core next, right?”

“I think? I’ll add it.” I erase the New Home label and write core instead. “And then New Home.” I add it. “And then the Barrier.” I draw a thick line, and label it BARRIER. “We have a map!

“Cool!” Alex grins. “But what for? I don’t think this is the reason you wanted to talk to me.”  
“You’re right. Okay, so you know how they need souls?” 

“Yeah. Which is why we can’t leave.”

“But they need seven, and they only have six.” I say, and I can see the gears turning in Alex’s brain.

“Which means that as soon as Frisk leaves, which they will, the monsters will have all the souls they need. Asgore will take the souls, break the barrier, and destroy humanity.”

“Yup. As soon as Frisk leaves.”

Alex turns to face me more directly, her eyes wide. “Are you suggesting that we leave with Frisk, because after that, it won’t matter?”  
I grin. “Exactly! Mom could come too, I think she’d like that.”  
Alex laughs. “Yes! Yes! Yes! That’s a great idea!” Then she stops laughing. “Does this mean we’re going to die?”  
I bite my lip. “I hope not. It’s just- I don’t want to stay in the Ruins forever. I want to see the sun, and the stars! Mom says they’re the most wonderful thing. I want to see them so bad! I want to feel the sun!”

Alex nods. “I want to read more books than what we’ve got here! I want to see rainbows! I want to see- well, I want to see more humans. I want to see all the colors humans can be! I want to see the world!”

“So do you agree? That this plan is the best we’ve got?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?” I ask. Mom had told us about promises. Promises should never be broken.

Alex nods. “Promise.” 

We hug.

“Guys! Go wake up Frisk! It’s diner time!” Mom's voice carries through an open window.

I smile softly. “Diner time! Let’s wake go get Frisk.”

Alex stands and holds her notebook close to her chest. She takes my pencil, and says, “Of course. I need to put these back.”

“Then let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment if you notice anything wrong! Or just comment, I would love to hear what you guys think!


	5. "How do I leave the Ruins?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins, Frisk, Liz, and Toriel have an important conversation.
> 
> Should I just call them (twins, Frisk & Liz) the Human Squad? 
> 
> I think I should.
> 
> In other news, I wrote another thing, which is kind of a prequel. It's about Chara being all happy and- no, it's Chara's last thoughts.
> 
> Enjoy.

 When I had heard another human had fallen, the first thing I had done was check with Toriel to make sure she wasn’t making something with snails in it. It’s an acquired taste, that’s for sure.

“It is alright, my child. I am making chicken pot-pie, and a butterscotch cinnamon pie.”

Then I helped her in the kitchen, making the pies. When they were done, I stood near the window, and told the twins to wake up Frisk.

I go to set the table, and set four plates before I remember. Luckily Frisk doesn’t notice. I want them to feel welcome, and not like I forgot them. It’s been awhile since there’s been a human.

When Frisk enters the dining room, rubbing their eyes and taking a seat, it’s hard to think of them as the seventh soul.

They’re going to want to leave, they all do. But maybe they’ll decide to stay. And we can all live in the Ruins.

I would want to live in the Ruins with Toriel forever, except that I need to get to the surface. I want to go through the barrier with my children, and I want them to see the sun! I want to see the stars again. The stones in Waterfall are pretty, but they’re not real stars.

Also, I want to punch James in the face. And Mariah, can’t forget about punching her.

“What’s for dinner?” Tina asks, sliding into the chair next to Frisk.

“Chicken pot-pie. There’s butterscotch cinnamon pie for dessert.”

Alex takes a seat next to Tina, and I take the seat on Frisk’s other side. I lean over to take a slice of pot-pie, which smells delicious. The chicken here isn’t really chicken, but it’s close. And Toriel’s cooking certainly helps.

I serve Frisk, placing a good sized piece of pie on their plate, and Toriel serves the twins and herself.

Frisk takes a bite. “This is good!” They say with a smile.

Tina grins. “Of course it’s good, Toriel made it. She’s the best at cooking.”

“And baking.” Alex adds.

Toriel laughs her pretty, musical, laugh. “Why thank you, my children. I am happy you all enjoy this.”

“Uh, Frisk, can I ask you a question?” Alex asks.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“What’s the surface like?”

Of course. I’ve told them all I know about the surface, but I haven’t been there in fourteen years. Things have happened that I don’t know about.

“Well, uh, I think I hit my head when I fell. I don’t remember much.”

“Oh, really?” Tina sounds very disappointed. I guess I am too.

“Do you know if there were anymore Harry Potter book’s?” I ask. I was a big fan before I, you know, fell. I read all four books over and over!

“Sorry, but I don’t remember. Uh, what was your name again?” Frisk sounds slightly embarrassed, like they should know.

“My name’s Liz. I fell after I ran off at a fancy party on Ebott.”

“Why’d you run?” They ask, clearly curious.

I smile slightly and sigh. “I walked in on my husband having an affair with my bestfriend.”

“Oh!” Frisk’s eyes widen slightly. “That’s awful!”

“Yeah, but it’s over now.”

“Yeah. No going back.” Frisk says, and I nod.

“Exactly.”

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

The conversation is flowing wonderfully, with Frisk asking questions about the Underground and monsters, and us answering. It isn’t until we’re eating the (delicious) pie when Frisk asks the question we all know they were going to ask.

“How do I leave the Ruins?”

“I am sorry, my child. But you cannot.”

“How do I go home?”

“I’m sorry, Frisk. But you can’t. Asgore would kill you. He’d destroy humanity.”

“I want to go home, though.”

Toriel sighs. “You cannot. Please, just stay here. It would be better that way.”

Frisk seems to deflate for a moment, and I think that Toriel and I have managed to convince them.

“Uh, actually,” Tina sets down her fork. She looks nervous. “I was wondering if maybe we could go with Frisk when they leave. I mean, it’s not like you’re going to make them stay, by like, fighting them or something.”

Toriel laughs nervously and Frisk smiles a little.

“And, well, Frisk is the last soul they need, so why not go with them? It’s not like this is going to end any differently, and, well,” Alex had taken over the train of thought, but she pauses. “We really want to leave the Ruins.”

“We want to see the Underground, and the Surface.” Tina says.

Toriel sighs. “My children, what would you gain from this?” Her voice becomes more worried, more emotional. “They would kill you!”

“Better die out there than wither away in here, Toriel.” Alex says, biting her lip, but looking more determined than I had ever seen her.

They’re not alone in wanting to see the Underground. I want to explore, and I want to go to the Surface. I’m done with waiting in here.

“I’m going with you.”

“What?!” Toriel’s eyes widen. It’s clear she thought I would be on her side.

“Really!?” The twins eyes are bright. They’re excited.

“Woah, this is really different.” Frisk murmurs. I don’t really know what they mean by that.

“Liz, are you sure about this? I can’t go with you.” Toriel’s voice is full of sorrow, like she’s already planning our funerals.

“I’m sure. We can leave tomorrow, after getting a good night of sleep. We’ll go through the Underground as far as we can, I suppose.”

Frisk speaks up. “We’ll make as many friends as we can.”

The twins nod. “I can’t wait! I’m excited!” Tina smiles.

“Alright. If you are sure. I will make pie for you to take with you. Now please, go to bed.”

“Of course.” I stand up and hug Toriel, and she holds me tightly, before letting go. “Are you sure you don’t want any help? With the dishes and pie?”

“I am sure. Please, go to bed.” She repeats.

“Okay. Goodnight, Toriel.” I go to hug Tina and Alex, and after a moment, Frisk. “Goodnight, you guys. Sleep well.” I go down the hall to my room, and open the door slowly, staring at my belongings. This is the room I’ve stayed in for so long. This is the house I’ve lived in for fourteen years. I’m finally leaving.

I’ll never see Toriel again, after tomorrow.

Even after all the serious thoughts running through my head as I get into my pyjamas, once I’m in bed, the only thing I can think about is if more Harry Potter books have been published.

Maybe there’s been a movie.

 

**END OF PART ONE**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice any mistakes, please comment! Or just comment if you want to say something. I'd love to hear it!
> 
>  
> 
> Next chapter there's going to be some more characters! (SKELEBROS!!!)


	6. Liz Threatens People With a Knife (Like Twice)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Human Squad finally leave the Ruins! 
> 
> Also, I've added all the characters that are going to show up in this fic to the thing! I'll probably add more if I need to.
> 
> ALSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... You might be wondering how long Part 2 is. It's going to be the rest of the game! Yup. And the surface will be Part 3.

I’ve already slept today, so no matter how hard I try, I can’t go back to sleep. Chara lays on the floor, eyes closed, pretending to sleep.

“Chara?” I whisper.

_*Yeah?_

“This is really weird, isn’t it?”

_*Of course it is. Nothing much we can do about that._

“It’s nice having other humans around, isn’t it?”

_*Meh. It’s alright._

“It’ll grow on you, I guess.”

_*Maybe. Are you not able to sleep?_

“Yeah.”

_*Maybe you could go talk to Mom. We haven’t talked much this reset, have we._

“Yeah, we haven’t. Good idea.” I slide out of bed carefully, and Chara stands. She goes over to check on Alex and Tina, and see if they’re asleep.

_*They’re asleep. It’s fine._

With that, we leave the room. Toriel’s standing in the kitchen, baking. She hears us walking, or at least, she hears me, and turns around.

“My child! You are awake?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.”

Toriel smiled softly. “Neither could I. Would you like to bake with me for a little, and see if you are more tired?”

“I would love to.”

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

I had stumbled to the couch after a while and fell asleep, but Toriel must have put a blanket over me. I wake up to see Liz and the twins walking around, and packing whatever they wanted to take.

The twins were in their normal outfits, and Liz was wearing a green shirt and a long purple skirt, with leggings underneath. She seems to be talking to Toriel about the weather past the Ruins, and agreed to wear her jacket. Liz left the room and returned shortly with a light blue knee-length jacket.

I look curiously at it. “Where’d you get that, Liz?”  
She touched the fabric gently. “It was once a dress. It was what I wore when I fell, and Toriel had turned it into a jacket for me. I think it’s fitting to be wearing what I came in.”

Toriel looked close to tears and pulled Liz into a hug. “My child,” she whispered. Then she turns to me, and says, “Frisk! My child, you must come eat breakfast.”

I stand, and put the blanket aside. Chara’s staring at it.

_*That was mine._

On the table there’s a plate for me, and two serving dishes. In one is what looks like a croissant, and in the other is something grey.

“What’s this?” I ask, while fully knowing what it is.

“Oh! Those are snails, my child, and I understand if you do not like them but you should get your energy up for the days ahead.”  
I take a bite of the croissant (it’s filled with a cinnamon-sugar mixture and it’s absolutely delicious) and grin. “I love snails!”

Toriel smiles. “Really? Wow, you are very much like someone I used to know.”

Chara sits in the seat next to me, frowning and crossing her arms. _*She means me. Great. First the pants, then the blanket, no wait. They have our entire room! Agh!_

“Sometimes you have to just deal, Chara” I whisper. Nobody looks up, so I think I’ve managed to make it sound like I was talking to myself.

I serve myself some snails, and while eating, ask Liz, “What’s the plan?”

Liz sighs. “There isn’t one, really, but it’s to get as far as we can. It’d be nice to see the barrier, I think. See light filter through it.”

Toriel nods. “Yes, I expect you all to see very interesting things. I do hope you can enjoy yourselves.”

“We’ll try.” Liz says grimly.

And on that positive note, we get ready to leave the ruins. Each of us have a backpack. Liz and the twins have already packed theirs, filling it with a blanket, food, and whatever extra things they want. I’m almost positive Alex has brought her notebooks.

I wonder if she knows it can be used as a weapon.

“What should I fill this with? I don’t really have anything.”

“Just go into the bedroom and fill it with things you want, my child. I know that no one will have a use for it anymore.”

“Alright.” I finish my breakfast and take the bag, heading toward the bedroom. “Is there food already in this?”

“Uh-huh!” Tina answers. “There’s pie and some other things.”

“Great.” I enter the bedroom, and shut the door behind me. “Chara, what do you want.”

Chara stares at the room. _*Can you open the closet? Yeah, hang on, lemme see._ She stares at the clothing and blankets inside the closet. _*The sweater would be great. The green and yellow one, of course, the one that’s mine. And, uh, the blanket. Again, the green and yellow. Yeah._

“Is this all you want?”

_*Yeah. Unless you want anything?_

“My shoes, for one, but other than that, nothing.” I zip up the bag and slip on my shoes, then I put on the backpack. “I’m ready. And this is honestly a lot more preparing than we’ve ever gotten, which is great. Ready to go? If we’re lucky, this might be our last reset.”

_*I-I’m ready. Let’s go._

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

Last goodbyes have been said. Hugs have been had. Toriel has been called mom (by me) and has nearly cried (whoops). We stand in front of the door to leave the Ruins, just us humans. And Chara, who I suppose is a human but doesn’t really count because she’s kind of a ghost.

All that we need to do is open the door. Liz steps forward first, she puts a hand against the door, and she pushes.

It swings open far too easily, and the noise it makes when it closes is far too final.

We walk the long hallway after the Ruins door, with the temperature getting progressively colder.

“Mom, how much colder is it gonna get?” Alex asks.

“A lot, I think. There’s going to be snow.”

“The stuff you brought us once? The white, cold, watery stuff?”

“Yeah. That. Except a lot. It’ll be all over the place.”

“Wow!”

We’re nearly at the end of the hallway, and we can see the exit, when Flowey pops out of the dirt. He’s smiling (of course).

“Well, well, well. It’s almost hard to believe! So many monsters would _kill_ for the opportunity to meet you guys.”

_*SHIT_

Liz takes another step so she’s directly in front of us. One arm in the pocket of her coat, one stretched wide, in an attempt to shield us. “You!” She hisses, with more venom in her voice than I thought was possible.

“Me!” Flowey agrees, his smile widening. “So you’ve heard of me!”

“Mom?” Tina asks, fear in her eyes. Of course! She must have never seen Flowey before. “Who’s that? Is that a monster?”

“I don’t think so,” Liz says with a slow shake of her head. “Toriel’s told me about you.”

Flowey hisses. “OF COURSE SHE WOULD! Hah, well, I guess you know alllllllllllllll about me. The problem is how little I know about you. That’s a problem I’ve got to fix.”  
Liz pulls the hand in her pocket out further, and there’s a..

_*THERE’S A KNIFE IN HER HAND HOLY SHIT_

The twins eyes are wide. I recognize it as one of Toriel’s knives. Liz must have pulled it out of a drawer somewhere.

“Leave,” Liz says.

_*LIZ IS OFFICIALLY THREATENING FLOWEY WITH A KNIFE HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD YES_

“Wow,” I whisper, in response to both Liz and Chara’s exclamations.

Flowey grins. “I’ll see you all later.” He winks, then pops into the dirt.

“Creepy,” Alex whispers. Tina nods.

“Well, let’s keep going, shall we? Lots of things to see!” The levity in Liz’s voice is very forced. She slips her knife back into her pocket.

With Liz leading the way, we step out into the bright light and the cold. Tina and Alex both shriek and pull their sweaters closer to their bodies.

“OHMYGODITSSOCOLD!”

Liz chuckles. “Yeah, it’s like this in winter on the surface.”

Eyes wide, Alex asks, “So humans have to, like, deal with this regularly?!?”

“Yup!”

Alex shudders, and takes a step forward onto the path, which is mostly clear of snow. She and Tina start stumbling their way up the path, with Liz leading, and Chara and I behind.

“So, what season is the Ruins like?”

“Fall.”  
“Oh. What order is the seasons again?”

“Well, it’s a never-ending loop, so it’s not like there’s a beginning and ending, but I think it’s Fall, Winter, Spring, and then Summer.”

“Wow,” Tina looks slightly astonished. “Do you think there’s going to be the other seasons down here?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Waterfall was a little like Spring, I think.”

“Cool! And hey, even if it’s unreasonably cold,” Liz laughs a little at Alex’s statement. “It’s pretty out here! It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Just you wait, Alex.” Liz says, a strange expression on her face. “There’s so many amazing things on the surface.”  
We step over a large branch, with the twins experimentally jumping on it.

“It’s not gonna break,” Tina says, leaning to put more pressure on it. “It’s too sturdy for that.”

_*Just you wait!_ The glee in Chara’s voice is unmistakable.

As we walk, we hear a loud crunching noise. All of us spin around. Tina and Alex both pale, and Liz’s hand goes to her pocket.

“Something… broke the branch. That we couldn’t break. Let’s keep moving.”

_*Do you think she’s gonna stab Sans? That’d be cool. Maybe she’d win. I like Liz. Let’s keep her alive. And the twins. They’re cool._

We quicken our pace. I can’t wait until the others meet Sans. I think they’d like him. Sans is probably as confused as I am.

Good.

“Be careful guys, there’s a bridge ahead with some… bars? On it. Watch your step and we’ll be fine.” Liz reaches the bridge first and she calls out a warning, but unexpectedly

stops. The twins freeze as well, so I’m forced to stop. As if I wouldn’t! I like Sans. He’s cool.

**“Humans. Don’t you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand.** ” Liz pushes the twins aside gently and steps in front of me, one hand still in her knife pocket. She extends her other hand to shake San’s hand and, of course, there’s a farting noise.

Sans becomes less shadowed.

“whoopee-cushion in the hand prank. works everytime. hilarious.”

Liz stares at Sans for a moment, before saying, “You’re a.. Skeleton?”

“yup. sans the skeleton. i’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now.”

Liz tenses, and is poised to strike.

_*GET SOME!_ Chara cheers. I roll my eyes.

“but... y’know… i don't really care about capturing anybody.”

Liz relaxes. “That’s great!”

“now my brother, papyrus… he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.”

“Oh.”

“hey, actually, i think that’s him over there. i have an idea. go through this gate thingy.”

“This is a gate?”

“yeah, but you can go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.”

“Oh. Alright. Careful, guys,” she waves the twins through, then I step through. Chara just floats alongside me. Liz is still at the back, in front of Sans, so she probably still thinks he’s dangerous. Huh. It’s nice being protected, I guess, even if it is a little unnecessary.

“uh, i guess there’s no where you can hide.” is all Sans has time to say before Papyrus rushes into the area.

“SANS!”

“‘sup, bro.”

“IT HAS BEEN EIGHT… ARE THOSE HUMANS?!?”

Sans takes a look at all four of us. “yes”

“WOWIE!! HUMANS!” Liz looks slightly alarmed, and the twins are still terrified. Is this what I was like before all the resets? Alarmed and terrified? Was this what the other humans were like when they came through? “HUMANS! I WILL CAPTURE YOU AND DELIVER YOU TO THE KING! SO PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR PUZZLES, PASTA, AND…” Papyrus glares at Sans. “...PUNS…!! NYEHEHEH!”

Papyrus dashes off, and Liz relaxes slightly, taking her hand out of her knife pocket. Papyrus comes back, turns to Sans, and says one last ‘heh’ before disappearing completely.

Sans turns to us. “well, you guys should go on off. or else you might have to listen to more of my hilarious jokes.”

“Uh, Mr… Skeleton? You didn’t make any jokes…” Tina looks confused.

_*Don’t go on with trying to be on the script! Or else you’ll make a serious mistake._

“well, you’re bound to hear some. i make a ton of jokes each day. a _skele_ -ton.”

The twins giggle a little.

“Alright. Well, let’s keep going.” Liz leads the way to the next area.

“See you later, Sans!” I grin and wave. Sans waves back, and points at the other humans, and narrows his eyes. I shrug, and smile.

“They’re good.”

“FRISK! Stay with the group!” Tina yells. I smile and run off towards the others.

_*See ya later, Sans!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment! I'd love to hear what you guys think!


	7. Who's this?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an... interesting... monster encounter, Liz is asking questions, and Frisk is giving answers.

 It is so cold. I have never been so cold in my life. I have never been this scared in my life, either, come to think of it. But adventure! And this whole thing was practically my idea, so not like I can complain to Alex about it. She’d be all snotty and bratty or something.

We come to a spit in the road, first one we’ve seen. One direction going to the left and one going straight ahead, with a box next to it. Frisk, who has caught up with us, pauses for a moment to stare at a tree.

“Which way should we go?” Alex asks, trying to see what’s ahead.

“Maybe the left first?” Frisk suggests.

“Sure,” Mom smiles. “But first, Alex, Tina, are you two cold?”

“Very.” Alex answers.

“The most I’ve ever been.”

“Alright, well, let’s pull out some blankets!” Mom puts down her back and roots around in it, before pulling out two blankets. She hands one to me and one to Alex. “Frisk, do you need a blanket? Or are you good. You’re not wearing long pants, after all…”

“No, I’m fine!” Frisk smiles. “I like this place. I like it a lot.”

“That’s good.” With that, we go to see what’s to the left.

It’s just a river, the biggest I’ve ever seen. And somethings tethered to the ground beside it. It’s a stick, I guess, with some string attached to it. There’s a wheel on it, too.

“Mom?” I ask. “What’s that?” I point to the thing.

“That? That’s a fishing rod.”

“A what?” Alex looks confused. She pulls her notebook out of her inventory, along with a pencil, and sketches it out quickly. “How do you spell that? And what’s it do?”

Mom tells her how to spell it, and explains that, “It’s for catching fish. To eat, sometimes, or to release. Like a sport.”

“Oh. Cool!” Alex grins, writes down a quick explanation, and puts her book and pencil away.

“Should we lure it in?” Frisk asks, their eyes flicking to a spot on their left before coming back to us.

“Sure.” Mom takes hold of the string, and pulls it out of the water. There’s a piece of paper attached. “It’s, uh, a picture of a strange-looking fish monster. There’s a phone number attached. It says, ‘Call me!’” Mom stares at it for a moment and laughs. “Oh! That’s clever! I.. guess.”

“How about we don’t call.” Frisk says. “And continue?”

We continue. We go the other way, and pass a box. There’s a sign explaining how to use it. We each read it, and open the box. All that’s there is a tough glove.

“Tough glove,” Frisk recites. “A weapon.” Strange how they know what it is.

“Oh. I guess we don’t need it?” Alex says, but sounds like she’s asking a question.

I take it. It’s soft and warm, and I slide it on. It’s a little too big.

“I’ll- I’ll take it. Not for a weapon or anything! Just for warmth. I don’t think it’s really meant for me.”

Mom looks confused, but Frisk nods.

“Well, either way, let’s just keep going!” Mom smiles, and we continue.

Sans and Papyrus are standing up ahead, talking.

“SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE,” Papyrus looked at Sans, and looked at us, and looked at Sans. Faster and faster. “OH MY GOD! THE HUMANS ARE HERE!”

Mom stands in front of us again, but this time, she doesn’t have her hand in her knife pocket. “Hi.”

“uh, yeah.”

“WOW! HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU. I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU. YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL. THEN! THEN! I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT. CONTINUE IF YOU DARE!” Papyrus laughs, and leaves.

“don’t worry, guys. i’ll keep an eye socket out for you.”

“Great, thanks,” is all Mom says as we walk to the next area.

But before we can get to far, a monster attacks.

**_*Icecap struts into view._ **

Mom, Alex, and I spin around, trying to see where the voice came from. Then we see them. I can’t quite tell if they’re a boy or a girl, but I think they’re a girl. They look a lot like Frisk, except their hair is redder, their skin is paler, and their sweater is yellow and green. They have red eyes, like Frisk, and they have the same pants as me. Or do I have the same pants as them? Am I wearing their pants? Whoever they are, the monster doesn’t see them, and Frisk doesn’t act surprised.

**_*ICE CAP- ATK 11 DEF 4_ **

**_*This teen wonders why it isn’t named ‘Ice Hat.’_ **

A pause while we all look the monster.

**_*It’s because it’s a pun, idiot._ **

That’s not the voice of an unbiased narrator. I can see in Alex’s eyes that she want’s to whip out her notebooks and find out what’s going on.

“I just looove my hat. OK?” Then Ice Cap sends a kind of icy missile at us, with each of us doing the best to move and dodge. I can see everybody's soul. Frisk’s is red, for determination. It looks pretty. The narrator, who ever they are, has the faint outline of a red soul.

**_*Here comes that new clothes smell._ **

The narrator's voice marks the end of Ice Cap’s turn and the beginnings of ours.

“Options?” Mom asks.

**_*You can Check, Compliment, Ignore and Steal._ **

“Compliment.” I say. He likes his hat, so maybe he wants us to tell him how great it is?

**_*You inform Ice Cap that it has a great hat!_ **

“Envious? TOO BAD!” Woops. Wrong way. Ice Cap attacks us again, sending waves of ice. Frisk dodges perfectly, managing to wave through the ice without getting touched. Mom is a little clumsy, but doesn’t get hurt either. Both Alex and I get hit, bringing both of our HP’s down to 17.

**_*Ice Cap also wants a hat for its nose._ **

“Ignore!” Alex seems to know what to do know.

**_*You manage to tear your eyes away from its hat._ **

**_*It looks annoyed.”_ **

“HELLO??? My hat’s up here.” It sends more missiles.

**_*Ice Cap is secretly checking if you’re looking at it’s hat._ **

“Ignore.” Mom says, nodding. This seems to be what to do.

**_*You continue not looking at the hat. It seems defeated…_ **

“Fine!!! I don’t care!” It sends the harder to dodge ice waves, but Alex and I do better this time, and don’t get hit.

**_*Ice Cap is desperate for attention._ **

“Spare!” Frisk says with a grin. Ice Cap gives up and leaves, and we get some money. The battle screen disappears, along with the mystery person.

“We won!” Alex laughs. “Yay!” That was our first real fight. Sure, we did plenty practice with Toriel and the monsters in the Ruins, but they’re different from the monsters outside of the Ruins.

“We sure did. But what I want to know is who that narrator person was. Girls? Frisk? You got anything?”

“No.” Alex says. “But they’re wearing Tina’s pants, and a sweater like what we found at home.”

“Yeah. Frisk, do you know anything?”

Frisk looks nervous. “Heh, uh, yeah, I know stuff about her.”

“Her?” Mom raises her eyebrows. “Well, who is she?”

“Uh, her name is Chara. She was, uh, Toriel’s adopted child. She died. She, uh, wow, never explained this outloud. She kind of lives in my head? And narrates things for me.”

“Since you’ve fallen? Or is there something else you’re not telling us.”

“Okay.” Frisk breathes in, they breathe out. They nod. “I’m going to tell you something, and you might not believe me, but it’s true, okay?”

“Okay?”

“I have this... power. It’s because of our combined determination, but I can set save points, like a video game. I can reload to my last save point. I never die. Each time I die, I can either reset or reload. I can reload to my last save, or reset to when I first fall. You guys following?”

I guess I’m following. It’s kind of hard to understand the references they make, when I’ve never seen or played a videogame, but Mom probably understands.

“Oh, uh, wow. And have we always been there?”

“No. Never. I have never seen you guys in my life.”

“Does anyone remember? The resets and reloads?”

“Yeah. Flowey and Sans. I don’t know if you guys do.”

“Can we test it?”

“Sure. I guess I’ll just save here,” Frisk stood silent for a moment, then moved to draw a line in the snow with their foot, and stand next to it. “And I’ll reload.”

I wait for a moment, and then we’re standing where we were when they said they had made a save. The line in the snow is gone.

“Wow, just… wow.” Mom’s eyes are wide. She hugs her stomach. “That made me kind of queasy.”

I nod. “Same!” the feeling in my stomach takes a few seconds to go away. “What about you, Alex?”

“Oh, wow, that was strange. Wow. My stomach hurts.”

“Huh. Never makes me hurt, except when I get phantom pains from dying. But it’s nice you guys remember! Now, can we please continue walking? I want to get to Snowdin.”

Mom sighs. “Sure, sure, let's do that.”

We’re about to start walking again when Frisk throws out their arms. “Wait!”

“What?” I ask.

“Would you guys mind if I talked to Chara, like, outloud? It’s kind of awkward if you guys don’t understand who I’m talking to, but if you guys know…”

“Sure.” Mom nods. “Go ahead. Just, don’t talk too loud, okay? We might understand, but the monsters won’t.”

“Got it.” Frisk smiles, and they look more relieved than I’ve ever seen them. “Yeah, let’s go. I can’t wait to show you Grillby’s, you guys. You guys can get burgers and fries and probably soda-pop and probably beer.”

Mom laughs. “I can’t wait. Lead the way, Frisk.”


	8. Food!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liz heads to Grillby's to get some food, has a conversation with Sans.
> 
> I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A COUPLE DAYS! I was busy on both days I would have written a chapter, and I just couldn't get one written, edited, and posted. Sorry! I'll try my best to keep regularly updating, but once school starts again, it's going to be a bit harder.

After a long walk of exciting new places and interesting puzzles, we’ve finally made it to Snowdin. I’m not as cold as my kids, of course, but I am definitely ready to go someplace warm. 

“There’s the inn,” Frisk points out. “It’s run by the sister of the shop-keeper. It’s nice. And warm.”

Tina laughs. “That’d be a great thing right now.” We’ve had to pull out all of the blankets for Tina and Alex.

“Let’s get a room, then. I think we have enough.” We enter the inn, and it’s nice and warm. Tina and Alex breathe a sigh of relief, and both of them shed at least one blanket. 

“Hello,” I say.

“Hiya! Would you and your family like to stay here? One night is 80 g!”

“I’d love to. Are there rooms with more than one bed?”

“Sure! Would ya like more than one key? I can give ya two!”

“Sure, that’d be great.” I pay for the room and take the keys, handing one to Alex. I read the number on the key, then lead the way to a room at the end of a hall of rooms. I unlock the door, and look inside. There’s three beds, two twin beds, and one bed that might be a Queen, but is a little smaller. 

“Do me and Tina have to share?” 

“Yeah. But you guys can have the big bed.”

“Great!” Tina flops backwards onto the bed, pulling blankets around her. 

Alex sets the key on the bedside table. “So, what are we going to do for food? We have what Toriel packed us, are we gonna eat that?”  
“Nah,” I shake my head. “I haven’t eaten a burger since before you were born. I haven’t had a beer since a while before you were born. So I’m going to go to Grillby’s and get some food.”

Frisk looked to me from where they were sitting on the bed they chose. “Want me to go with you?”

“No, you should stay here. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. I’ll be back in a bit, alright?” I hug each of my children, then Frisk. Then I zip my coat back on, and step out of the room. I pull the hood closer to my head, and tilt my head down, to avoid eye contact with any monsters. I walk down the hallway and down the stairs, and nod politely to the bunny monster at the desk.

“You’re going to go get some food?” She asks.

“Yeah. I’ve heard Grillby’s is good.”

She chuckles. “It better be, it’s the only restaurant in town!”

“Oh!” Huh. I guess once you actually get to Snowdin, there’s not much there. “Do they do breakfast?”

“Course they do, you don’t have to worry ‘bout that. It might not be the healthiest, but it taste’s good. An’ my sister, next door,” The woman gestures vaguely to her right. “She makes some food. She makes Cinnamon Bunnies, those are great for breakfast.”

“Thanks!” I nod to her, and step outside. I’m immediately greeted by cold air, which shouldn’t be surprising by now, but after the brief warmth it seems even colder. 

Looking down the street, I see a house, an igloo (?), a Christmas tree (??), Grillby’s, and a couple monsters. I pull my scarf up higher, put my head down, and start walking to Grillby’s. I can’t help but stop at the Christmas tree, though. It’s been so long. I stare at it in wonder, amazed at the bright lights.

The twins are going to love that. 

I stand there for a moment, just staring at it, one hand slightly out to touch it, when I realize that the bear monster has been looking at me. I hurriedly put my hand back down and continue walking to Grillby’s.

I open the door to Grillby’s and walk inside. Like the inn, it’s nice and warm. Of course, there’s also lot’s of monsters inside. There’s a jukebox in the corner, and a few tables and booths. Stools line the bar. I unwrap my scarf slightly and walk up to the bar, standing in a place where there’s no stool. There’s one on either side of me, though. There’s a monster made of fire standing behind it. I presume that’s Grillby?

“Excuse me?”

A red bird looks up. “Grillby say’s that he’d offer you some water, but he doesn’t touch the stuff.”

“Oh, uh, of course! Can I see a menu? Please?” It has been forever since I’ve ordered at a restaurant. I never got to go to Grillby’s the few times Toriel let me leave the Ruins. The only shop I’ve ever been at was the old turtle monster’s shop. I wonder if he’ll recognize me.

Grillby slides a menu across the bar. I look it over, thinking.

“i’d recommend the burger. and the fries. they’re to die for.”

I jump and spin around, eyes wide. Sans has entered the bar, and he slides onto the barstool I’m standing next to. “Oh! Hi, uh, Sans.” I remember Frisk’s story. He’s good. He’s fine. He’s good. He’s fine. He won’t hurt us. Sans is good.

“hey. uh, remind me, what was your name again?”

“Liz. My name is Liz.” I say, then continue to look over the menu. It’s pretty simple, but the food is probably really good. I flip the menu over and browse the drinks.

“Uh, I’m ready to order?” I say, still unsure of what I’m doing. Grillby looks back to me, then nods, and makes a ‘go ahead’ gesture. “I’d like four burgers, and four orders of fries. Also, um, three root beers and a beer.”

Grillby nods and goes into the back area of the restaurant to make the food. 

“so.” I turn my attention back to Sans. 

“Yeah?”

“when’d you and your kids fall? frisk told me that they told you guys, and that you guys remember, but not much else.”

I laugh. “I fell. Alex and Tina didn’t.”

“uh, okay?” Sans looks confused. 

“I was pregnant when I fell.”

“oh.” 

“Yeah. I was at a party, found my husband cheating on me with my bestfriend. Don’t know how  _that_ ever happened, but this is my life now I guess.”

“that sucks.” Sans nods.

“Yeah. Sometimes I wish I had never gone to that party, but I guess I would still be living with a cheater. Or maybe I wouldn’t. I can’t change what happened in the past, but I can look forward to the future.”

“huh,” Sans pauses. “that’s a positive outlook on life, i guess.”

“It really is.”

“anyway, do you have a plan for when you reach the barrier? because it’s not like you can just become friends with everyone and break the barrier at the same time. it doesn’t work that way.” Sans sounds slightly bitter. I wonder if there’s something Frisk left out.

“There is. It might not work, but I have a plan. Kind of.”

“what’s the plan?”

“Giving up my soul so my children can see the sun again.”

“what?!?” Sans’s eyelights disappeared for just a moment. I guess that’s what happens when he’s surprised.

“Well, there’s four- three, I guess, since Frisk doesn’t count- human souls walking through the underground. You guys only need one. I’ve seen the surface before. My children haven’t.”

“oh, uh, wow. you’re sure?”

“Positive. But I need to know something first.”

“what is it?”

I look around, then lean in close, bending slightly since I’m taller than him. “Would it work? Frisk says you’re a scientist or something.”

“i think it would. and i am. i’m not certain about what it takes to break the barrier, but yeah, your plan would work.”

“Another thing.”

“what is it?”

“What happens to the souls after they’re used? Is there enough left over from each of the souls to build an entire new one?”

“uhh... no idea. i think it uses all of each soul.”

Damn. “Alright. Thanks.” I stand up to my full height and see Grillby coming over with a large bag of something that smells absolutely  _amazing._ He sets it on the counter and I open my inventory with a flick of my finger, checking how much gold I have. I still have a bunch, of course, since Toriel gave us a lot. “Wow, this smells great! How much?”  
  
“put it on my tab, Grillbyz. i got it.”

“Oh! Uh, are you sure? I can take it.”

“i got it. welcome to snowdin, liz.” Sans slides off his barstool and leaves.

“Uh, okay! Thanks!” I call after his retreating form. “Thank you.” I nod to Grillby, and I take the bag. It’s a bit heavy, which means it’s full of greasy goodness! I hope.

I tighten my scarf around me and step outside, ready to show my children the wonders of a good burger.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos and views! It makes me so happy to see that people read what I write, so THANK YOU!


	9. A Little Bit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! Well, it hasen't been that long. I'll try to get an update scheduale, I promise! It'll probaly end up being two days a week during the summer, and one day a week during the school year. Maybe.
> 
> I'm more sorry about how short the chapter is, honestly. I'm going to create another work (Before the Fall) about peoples lives before their seperate falls. I'm excited! I have a bunch of ideas floating around in my head, and I'd like to get them out. 
> 
> I hope this helps!
> 
> Also, I had a weird dream last night and would like to say that there is not going to be a second-person reader x sans sequel of this, in which the reader is Liz. That was a strange dream.
> 
> There is going to be, however, platonic Liz/Sans.

Wow, Grillby’s food is great. Whenever I go with Sans, I never get to actually eat the food we order. One of the many differences in this run, I suppose. Chara is sitting on my bed, watching us eat dinner and chat with an odd expression on her face.

Well, they  _ said  _ they wouldn’t judge if I talked to Chara. “Do you miss eating?”

“Huh?” Tina asks, confused about who I’m talking to.

“Not you,” Alex taps her twin gently and rolls her eyes. 

_ *Huh? Do I miss it?   _ Chara pauses.  _ *Yeah, I do. I miss it a lot. I miss people actually seeing and hearing me, too, so it’s nice that they can see me in-battle. _

I nod. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“What’d she say?” Alex asks. 

“She misses it.” Is all I reply.

We finish our dinner in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Tell me what you think in the comments!
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER: one of the twins perspectives. excitment over MORE BURGERS OHMYGOD THIS MEATY GOODNESS


	10. Grillby's has the best food ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex has a lot of new expirences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY I HAVEN'T POSTED IN A LITTLE WHILE! I was on vacation with limited internet, and while I was able to write, I wasn't able to post. School has started, so I won't be able to write/post as frequently. I think I'll be able to post once a week though, on either Saturday or Sunday.

I think Frisk felt a little guilty for stopping the conversation. But it wasn’t their fault! It was just that because the conversation had paused, Tina and I both took a bite out of our burgers. And wow.

I’ll start with the fries.

I’ve never tasted anything quite like the fries. They were amazing, just little sticks of golden, crunchy, salty, potatoes. And on the side, there was ketchup! Ketchup is amazing! It’s made out of tomatoes (at least that’s what Mom says) but it’s not boring! It’s salty, kind of, but not really. The cold ketchup and the warm fries together were so much better than alone!  
And the drink! Mom said it was called ‘root beer’. At first I didn’t really like it, but after a few sips, I loved it! The dark sweetness along with the fries along with the ketchup was just amazing!

And the burger. I’ve never tasted anything quite like the burger.

BURGERS ARE AMAZING.

I would sell my soul to satan (or whatever the saying is) to have a burger everyday! I would never get bored of them!  
The bun was perfectly toasted, like how Toriel toasts bread, except it was a different texture than her bread. There were little seeds over the bun, which I don’t think do anything, but it looked great!

THE MEAT! It’s as great as Toriel’s cooking, but it’s different. The way the meat tasted is kind of hard to describe, but in a good way! I liked how the lines that went across the burger seemed to add more flavor, even if they didn’t actually.

THE CHEESE! The cheese was amazing! I loved the cheese!

All in all, burgers are amazing.

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

I wake up the next morning warm and refreshed. It looks like everyone else is still asleep, but I don’t mind. I get out of bed carefully, making sure to wrap the covers back around my twin, and go to sit in one of the chairs in our room. I get a blanket out of my inventory and tuck it around me, and I turn to face Frisk’s bed.

“Chara?” I whisper. “Can you hear me?”

Nothing happens, but I don’t expect anything to.

“Okay. I don’t know if you can, but I guess you can’t show me anything, or give me any signs or anything. Mom said that in the some of the stories, ghosts could interact with humans and other things. Sometimes, angry ghosts would push things around to scare people away. Can you do that?”

Nothing.

“Okay. I guess the only thing you can interact with is Frisk. That’s okay. At least you narrate our battles. What was life like for you, before you died?” I pause. “I’m sorry. Was that rude?”

As I expected, nothing happens.

“Oh yeah. Well, sorry. Living in the Ruins was fun. We learned how to read and write, and do math, and human and monster science. Mom and Toriel are good teachers. Did you know she wanted to be a teacher? Toriel, I mean, though maybe Mom wants to be one once we get to the surface. I think she’d be good at it.

“We learned about monster history, too. That’s how we learned about you. Toriel didn’t say anything about Tina wearing your pants, but she told us about how you fell. She told us about the war between humans and monsters, and about how some humans were great big jerks, but others were great.

“Mom told us about human history, too. We learned about the humans on different continents, and what they did. We learned a lot about America. We learned about the slave trade, and what the settlers did to Native Americans, and about the plagues and stuff. But we also learned about good things, like.. uh... Let me think for a moment.”

I stop and think. What are some of the good parts of American History?

“We learned about how some people didn’t have as many rights as others, and how they got rights. Things like the Civil Rights Act. And Women’s Suffrage. I think that if we get to the surface, I want to learn more about those things. I want to be someone to help people.”  
I lean back in my chair, and tug the blanket a little closer.

“I’ve never met my dad before. Well, that’s obvious, I guess, since he isn’t here, with us. But I want to meet him. I want to learn about him, about why he did what he did. Why he cheated on Mom. And I want to punch him.”  
“Auuugh- what? Alex? Huh?” Tina’s waking up.

“Tina! I’m over here. I’ve been up for a while.”

“Hmm? What?” Mom’s waking up.

“Good morning, Mom!” I smile. “I guess I should wake up Frisk, so we can get some food, right?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s do that.”

I stand up, placing the blanket back in my inventory, and walk over to Frisk. I shake their shoulder gently, but I don’t stop until they wake up.

“Huh? Oh. Good morning, Alex.”

“Morning, Frisk!” I step back, and pull the brush from my inventory. We all slept in our clothes, so we don’t need to change, but I want to put my hair back. Once I finish putting in my headband, I thrown the brush at Tina, who catches it easily.

“What are we doing for breakfast?” Tina asks while brushing her hair.

“The rabbit woman said that Grillby’s does breakfast, so I think we’ll all head over there. That sound good?”

“That sounds great!” Tina and I exclaim at the same time.

“Sure.” is all Frisk says.

Once all of us are ready, we leave our room, and start walking to Grillby’s. Mom looks a little nervous, especially once she see’s Frisk talking to everyone. But Tina and I look around with wide eyes.

There are monsters everywhere, but only one thing grabs my attention. I take Tina’s hand and pull her. She fights me at first, but once she see’s where I want to go, she willingly runs with me.

It’s a tree, in the center of the town. But it’s not just a tree, I don’t think. It’s covered in pretty lights, in many colors.

“Woah,” I say softly. It looks even more pretty up close.

“It’s amazing.” Tina responds, voice just as soft. We stand in silence for a few moments, just staring at the tree, hand in hand, until we hear footsteps. Mom and Frisk join us at the tree.

“It’s so pretty,” I say. “Mom, what’s it called?”

“A Christmas tree. On the surface, we had one every year at Christmas. Monster’s have a different tradition, so it’s probably called something else down here.”

I nod. I want to write that down, but that would look weird, and besides, I’m hungry.

“Food?” TIna asks.

“Oh, of course! Come on, guys, Grillby’s is just up ahead.”

We continue the short walk. Once we get to Grillby’s, Mom opens the door, and leads us to a booth.

I look around in wonder. There are a few monsters, but not to many. I notice Sans sitting at the bar, talking to the bartender. He’s made of fire! Not Sans, obviously, but the bartender! Fire is pretty.

Grillby must have seen that we entered, because he walks over to our table and sets a few large, glossy books down. He opens one of them to the first page, and taps the word at the top, ‘BREAKFAST’.

“Alright! Thank you, Grillby.” Mom says.

“Thank you!” I say. Hey, if Mom says it, I should say it too, right? Don’t want to be rude.

“Thanks!” Tina grins.

“Thanks.” Frisk says.

Grillby looks like he would be smiling if he could. He nods politely and makes his way back to the bar.

“Alright, let’s see what he has.” Mom takes the glossy book that he had opened and pulls it closer. Following her example, Tina and I both grab one.

I end up learning a few things. First, apparently burgers and fries aren’t breakfast food, and Mom won’t let me get a soda for breakfast. Also, the glossy book is apparently called a menu! I quickly pull out my notebook, flip to an empty page, and write ‘Menu- Pronounced like it’s written. A book that has info about food and drinks you might want to order and the prices of the food. Also has pictures.’

Tina and I both order something called ‘Cinnamon Pancakes’ which is REALLY GOOD OH MY GOD! It’s cinnamon flavored, obviously, and the pancakes are fluffy and good! Toriel made them back home, but not like this. This is a different kind of amazing.

Mom and Frisk both get waffles, and they each give Tina and me a bite of their food. It’s amazing, of course, and I love the syrup.

We all get Hot Chocolate, which Toriel never made at home. It’s exactly what it sounds like it would be, but Tina and I are both surprised it’s not a dessert. Chocolate is dessert, right? Toriel never had much at home, just a little, and we would never eat it.

Whatever it was, it was great!

Mom pays for the food, and we leave, waving goodbye to Grillby and Sans because that seems like something we should do. Also, Mom does it, so it’s probably right.

“What now?” Tina asks.

“I was thinking we could have a snowball fight or something. We can find an empty area and do it.”

“Snowball fight? What’s that?”  
“It’s where you make balls out of snow and throw them at each other. Sound fun?”

“Yeah!” Tina grins. “Sounds great! Let’s do it!”

“Let’s find a space, then.”  
We walk almost to the edge of town before we find a space that Mom says will work. It’s large and flat, and Frisk says that that’s the way out of town. They also say that we should stay away from the end of it, and not go into the fog. We agree.

Snowball fights are fun! Frisk pauses to save halfway through, to which we all ask if they’re afraid of losing. They laugh.

I’m getting tired, but I don’t want to stop. I pause to scoop snow up next to the river, when I lose my balance.

I fall into the cold, fast moving river.

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

The water’s cold. I’m colder than I’ve ever been in my life. I can hear screaming, Tina’s screaming, Mom’s screaming. It fades away as I go farther away. My vision’s fading too, I can barely see.

A hand grabs my arm, and I scream, swallowing cold water as I do.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, they’ll reload.” I recognize the voice. I don’t understand. Strong arms pull me closer to them, and it’s a little warmer. I lean back into the touch.

“They’ll reload soon, don’t worry.”

I don’t understand. I make a noise.

“What was that?”

“S-s-s-ing?”

“You want me to sing?”

I make an affirmative noise.

“Alright, then.”

And they sing. It’s such a beautiful voice, and such a beautiful song. They sing it, with high soaring notes and low sweeping notes. They finish the song. I make a noise.

“You’re still aware of what’s going on?”

Barely. But I don’t answer with a word. I make another affirmative noise.

“Wow, you’re strong. I guess you are perseverance, after all. Don’t worry, they’ll reload soon. I think they’re scared, and slightly undetermined. It’s easier to reload when they die, because they get the choice automatically.”

“S-s-stor-r-y?” I ask.

“You want me to tell one? Alright. I will.” The voice pauses. They’re thinking.

“Okay. Once upon a time, a really long time ago, there was a girl. She lived in a village full of awful people, but she had her sister, who was the light of her life. Her sister was very kind. One day, she came home to find that her sister had- had- fallen ill, and had died. The girl was very sad. So she decided to walk up a very big mountain, to escape from the village, which no longer had any meaning to the girl.  
“This mountain was huge, and she was a little scared, but she still walked up it. There was a hole, and she fell in it, and in the mountain, she found a boy. He was her age, and he was very kind. He brought her to his family, and they decided to adopt the girl into their family. The girl was happy there.”

As the voice talks, their voice gets softer and softer. I can’t really hear them anymore. I try to make a noise, but I can’t open my mouth. I try to move my hands, but I can’t. I can’t even open my eyes.

“Are you still awake?”  
I can’t even reply.

“It’s okay. It’ll all be okay. They’ll reload, and you’ll be fine.”  
I can’t speak. Am I dying? I think I’m dying. Is this what dying feels like? It’s very cold. Colder than I’ve ever been.

“I’m going to sing again, okay?”  
That sounds good.

I fall asleep to the sound of a lullaby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this story! I can't really believe that more than a hundred people have seen my story! That's amazing! Thank you guys so much!


	11. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Frisk perceptive.

 I tried, I really did, to reload as soon as Alex fell in the cold, fast-moving river. But it’s much harder to reload while still alive, and I was kind of panicking. I’m used to being in danger, to dying. But Alex isn’t. Neither is Tina or Liz, really.

There was a second where we all stood frozen at the edge of the river, then Liz and Tina started screaming and Chara ran from us, and down the tunnel.

If people are close to dying, they can see, hear, and feel the dead. And Alex needed some emotional support. So of course Chara left. I still felt strange without her right by me.

“ALEX! ALEX!” Tina screamed.

“ALEX!” Liz wailed, then she had turned to me, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me. “DO SOMETHING!” She had screamed.

“I- I’m trying!”

“RELOAD, DAMN IT!” Liz shouted.

Tina ran at me, grabbed my arm, and started screaming too. “DO SOMETHING!”  
“I’m trying! Let go of me!”

“DO SOMETHING, PLEASE!”

I wrenched myself away from them, took a step closer to the river, and dropped onto my knees. It’s a bit dangerous, to die when you’re not very determined, but I knew that I shouldn’t wait until I was determined enough. There are some… ill effects, you could say, of being dead for a while then suddenly coming back to life, with only a few people (or no one) even knowing you were gone.

Once, after a genocide run, I had wanted to give Sans a break, let him have a normal life for a while. So I had just sat at the fall spot until I died, and then waited in the darkness after I died for a long time. Eventually the darkness and loneliness had gotten to me and I reset completely.

I braced my arms against the cold and wet snow and pushed my head into the freezing water.

I heard shouts from above the water, and then Tina was pulling me out by my hair.

“What are you doing?!”  
“I gotta do this! I need to reload! This is the fastest way!”  
Tina was frozen for a moment, thinking the idea through. Finally, with a sigh, she said, “Please, save my sister.” and dropped my head back into the water.

I’ve never drowned before. It was hard to make myself relax in the freezing water and stop struggling against the current.

Then a hand brushed up against my cheek, and I could hear the voice clearly, even though my head was underwater, and they were definitely underwater.

“Shh, shh, relax. It’ll be okay.”

For a crazy second I thought it was Chara, because of how similar the voice was. But it wasn’t. After a moment, I recognized it as the voice that tells me when I make a SAVE or asks me if I’m going to reset or continue when I die.

“Wha-?” I said, immediately choking on the water and regretting it.

“Shh, don’t talk. But it’ll be okay, okay? It’ll be okay.” The voice was trying to sooth me, I guess. Probably doing the same thing Chara is doing for Alex. I opened my eyes, and could see a figure with dark hair before I have to close my eyes again.

“Don’t worry, drowning isn’t so bad, really. There are worse deaths.” The person smooths my hair. “Look, or don’t, actually. Liz had crouched down to rub your back.” There’s someone rubbing circles on my back. They’re talking about something that I can’t hear. “She’s telling you how sorry she is that you have to do this.”

I coughed.

“I don’t think any of my bandages could help you now. But it’ll be over soon. You’re doing well. I’m very proud.” They had paused for a moment, sighing. “I’m going to sing, alright? It always calmed her down.”

I nodded. And they started to sing. It was a very pretty song, and it gave me something to focus on.

-0-1-2-3-4-5-

After the darkness, I reload. And then we’re all standing in the spots we were when I saved during the snowball fight. Alex collapses immediately, coughing as she falls to the ground. I cough, trying to get out water that isn’t there. Chara is back at my side, opening her arms, and I fall into them.

Alex rolls over onto her side and throws up. I consider doing the same. Chara rubs my back.

It must look weird to everyone else. Does it look like I’m floating?

I’m very cold.

Liz walks over to me and crouches to be at my level. “Thank you so much. You did something very brave and uncomfortable to bring Alex back. Thank you.”

I cough again. Chara pulls me closer to her body, in a gesture that would generally give me some of her body heat if she had any.

“We’re going back to the inn, alright?”

Alex coughs and throws up again. “I- I don’t think I can. Walk, I mean. I don’t think I can walk.”

“I don’t think walking would be a good idea for me.” I say.

Liz nods. “I expected that. I have an idea though. You two are both cold, right?”

Alex and I both nod. Liz pulls two blankets out of her inventory, and wraps one around me, before asking, “Chara?”

_*Yeah? Oh, wait…_

“Can you pick up Frisk? Make sure their body’s covered by the blanket.”

Chara’s confused, but she does as Liz asks.   
“Perfect. I’m going to carry Alex. Tina, stand by Chara, and if anyone’s around, pretend you’re carrying them.”

“Alright.” Tina comes to stand near us. She looks a little shaky, but otherwise okay. She wraps her arms around my body, and we start to walk.

We must look weird. We had been laughing when we had left, hadn’t we? None of us are laughing now. I never want to drown again. I’m so cold.

“Yo! Are you guys alright?” It’s Monster Kid.

“No, I’m afraid these two got sick. I don’t think the cold agrees with them at all.” Liz responds smoothly.

“Alright then! Need me to get something?”

“No, I’m pretty sure we’ve got this covered. Thank you, though.”

“Sure!”

We walk a little further, and I think I can see the inn, when another voice calls out.

“hey!” It’s Sans. “what’s going on?” Footsteps, then he comes closer. “is frisk alright? what happened?”

“Alex fell in the river. Frisk drowned to reload. You must have felt the reload?”

“yeah, i did. that’s not good. anything i can do?”

“I don’t think there is.”

“k. i’ll talk to all of you later, then?”

“Yeah. I’ll make sure to tell you when we leave Snowdin.”

“leaving already?”

“I want to get us out of the cold. Tina’s not dealing with it very well at all.”

“You’re not wrong…” Tina mumbles.

“We’re here. Alright, see you later.”

“bye.”

We enter the inn, and the rabbit woman gasps when she see’s us.

“Are you guys alright?”

“Afraid not. Frisk and Alex aren’t dealing well with the cold. I think they’re both sick.”

“Oh, no! That’s not good at all. Is there anything I can get you guys that would help?”

“No, I think we’ll do fine.”

“If you say so. But you can always come to me.”  
“Of course. Thank you.”

Tina says a quiet ‘Thank you’ before we start the climb up the stairs. Tina has to let go of me completely to walk up the stairs, and Chara holds me closer.

_*Don’t worry, Frisk. You’ll recover. It’s only a bit of water, after all…_ She sounds a little bitter. Why?

_*You chose to drown, you’ll recover. You’ll be fine._

We get to the room and Liz sets Alex down on the large bed. Chara places me gently on my bed, and using my hand, she pulls the blankets around me.

“Are you guys hungry?” Liz asks.

“I am.” Tina says.

“Same.”  
“Same.”

“Okay. I’m going to go to Grillby and get some burgers and fries for us. I don’t think he sells any lighter food. Is that okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”  
“Of course it is, Mom. I’ll watch over them.”

Liz looks very tired. I suppose watching me die had something to do with it? Did she see the life leave my body? Did she hear my choked gasps?

“Are you sure? I could probably get Sans to get the food.”

“Mom, you said you could do it. We’ll be fine. Besides, I have Chara! We’ll all be fine. But I’m hungry.”

“Alright. I love you all.” Liz kisses each of us on the head (minus Chara, of course). Then she leaves, and Tina sinks into a chair with a sigh.

“Chara?” I ask

_* Yes, Frisk? Is there anything you want?_

She’s sitting next to me on the bed.

“Who was that other voice?”  
 _*What other voice?_ _  
_“You went with Alex. I was alone.”  
 _*I’m sorry._

“It’s fine, she needed you more than me. But who was the voice?”

Chara sighs, and sets a hand on my shoulder. _*What did they sound like? What did they do?_

“They sounded like you. They sang.”

_*Could you see them?_

“Yes.”  
 _*Okay. I know who it is._

“Tell me, then!”

_*You should rest, Frisk._

“Tell me!”

_*I’ll tell you later._

“Why won’t you tell me?”  
 _*I’m sorry._

“Please, Chara, tell me.”  
“Frisk, you’re… distressing yourself. You should rest.”  
“Tina!” I sit up and see Tina crossing the room to sit on my bed. “I’m going to eat soon anyway! I don’t need to rest! I’m fine!”  
“Frisk, please.” Tina begs. I look at her, and see that she also looks tired.

“Alright. Fine.”  
“Thank you.” Tina goes to sit next to Alex. Chara starts rubbing my back. I sigh and lean into her, closing my eyes slightly.

“Chara? Can you sing for me?”

_*If you want me to._

She sings a lullaby. And even if I don’t want to rest, I do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Also, I can't believe how many views and this is getting! Thank you for reading my story.


	12. Tina's Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina thinks a little, and is introduced to a new food.

 Okay, I’ll admit it. Frisk talking to Chara freaks me out. Chara carrying Frisk freaks me out. And seeing Frisk die? I’ll be lucky if I don’t have nightmares for the rest of my life. However long I live.

Alex and Frisk had both fall asleep, leaving me to my thoughts. I ponder over what Frisk had been saying, statement by statement. Let’s see…

‘Chara?’- That was easy. Frisk was simply bringing Chara’s attention to them. Simple, easy to understand. Still kind of unsettling how they call out to a person who I can’t see and I’m pretty sure is dead.

‘Who was that other voice?’- What? What other voice? I, of course, couldn’t hear anything other than Mom talking to Frisk and the rushing water.

‘You went with Alex. I was alone.’- Again, what? So, did Chara actually leave Frisk to go be with Alex? But Alex and I can’t see Chara, so why would she leave the one person who can see her?

‘It's fine, she needed you more than me. But who was the voice?’- Does that mean that dead people can see and hear Chara? Frisk was certainly acting like it.

‘They sounded like you. They sang.’- The hell? Who in the world would sound like Chara? What did they sing? Does Chara sing?

‘Yes.’- WHAT DID CHARA RESPOND WITH?  
‘Tell me, then!’- Chara’s not telling Frisk? Why?

‘Tell me!’- Frisk really wants to know, I guess.

‘Why won’t you tell me?’- And Chara really didn’t want to tell her.

‘Please, Chara, tell me.’- Frisk sounded so sad. So that was the point I had intervened, bringing Frisk’s attention to me and distracting them.

“Tina!” Mom calls out.

“Yeah?”

“I have the food! Open the door, please.”  
“‘Kay.” I stand up and open the door slowly, making sure it’s Mom. It is, and she had a large bag in her arms, much larger than before. “What did you get?” I ask.

“Oh, it’s what I got before. Burgers, fries. I have beer and another flavour of pop for you guys as well. And…”  
“And what?” I ask. It’s clear Mom wants me to ask.

“MAC AND CHEESE!” She shouts, pulling a box out of the bag. “I haven’t had it in years!”

“What?”

“Macaroni and cheese!”  
“What’s that?”

“It’s pasta, but with a cheesy sauce. It’s really good. Sans told me that Grillby makes pretty good mac n’ cheese, so I had to get some! I think you’ll love it!”

“Sounds great! Uh, Mom? Frisk and Alex are asleep. Do you think we should wake them up?”

“Best to eat this while it’s still hot. Chara, can you wake Frisk up?”

Silence, but I can see the blankets on Frisk moving around, and a moment later, they sit up, rubbing their eyes blearaly.   
“Huh? Is it time to eat?”

“Yeah. Come over here, here, take this blanket…” As Mom makes Frisk comfortable, I go to wake Alex.

“Hey, Alex, it’s time to eat. We got burgers.” I push Alex gently, and shake her. “Come on, we’ve got some food. Mom got something new. There’s fries. There’s pop.”

Alex sits up silently, yawning and rubbing her hands through her long her. She pushes it back with a sigh and slides off the bed, pulling the blanket with her.

We sit in a circle on the floor, taking the food out of the bag and dishing it out. I try the Mac and Cheese (or whatever it’s called). It’s amazing!

“THIS IS BETTER THAN BURGERS!” I shriek. Mom laughs. Alex shakes her head.

“No, burgers are better.”

“You wish!”

“FRISK!” Alex and I shout at the same time. They laugh a little.

“What?”  
“Which is better? Mac n’ cheese?”

“Or burgers?”  
“Neither,” They say with a small smirk. “I like Toriel’s pie better.”

“Hey!” Alex and I exclaim. Mom laughs loudly.

We spend most of the dinner talking about this and that, all of us ignoring the fact that _BOTH FRISK AND ALEX DIED TODAY AND I WATCHED FRISK DIE AND I HEARD ALEX’S GASPS AND FELT IT IN MY SOUL AS MY TWIN GOT FARTHER AND FARTHER AWAY AND I WATCHED FRISK DROWN THEMSELF AND I HAD TO STAND THERE WATCHING THEM DIE AND I HAD TO WALK THROUGH TOWN LIKE NOTHING HAD HAPPENED AT ALL WHILE ALSO HALF-ASSEDLY CARRYING FRISK BECAUSE AN ACTUAL AND FOR REAL GHOST HAD ALSO BEEN CARRYING THEM AND EVERYTHING IS STRANGE AND DIFFERENT AND WEIRD AND COLD AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE, OVER AND OVER AND OVER_

But other than that, it’s been a very nice day.

“So…” Mom says slowly, like she’s tasting the words and how she’s going to say them. “You say we have to fight someone to get through each area. So to leave this area we’re going to have to fight someone.”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Papyrus.”

“No!” I gasp.

“Why him?” Alex wonders.

“How do we beat him?”

Frisk gives us all a small, reassuring smile. “By flirting, of course.”

“What?!”  
“No, you could also just spare him over and over. Then you become his friend. And you get to call him, and he talks about stuff! He’s really nice.”  
“Is it a hard fight?”

“No, not really. It introduces a new method of fighting though. He turns your soul blue, so it’s heavier I guess. But he never kills you. He always stops when you get to one health-point.”

Mom sighs in relief. “That’s good, then. Who’s after Papyrus? I feel like we should plan at least a little before we leave here. This place is very safe, after all.”

“That’s a good idea,” I nod.

“Yeah!” Alex pulls out her notebook, flips to a page, and writes PAPYRUS- SNOWDIN at the top. “Who’s next?”

“You don’t have to write that down, you know. I’ll always be here, with you guys!”  
“I know. But I like writing things down. It helps me understand them, I guess.”

“If you say so. Okay, so Undyne is the boss in Waterfall. She’s the head of the Royal Guard and is good friends with Papyrus and Sans. She’s strong, but really nice once you get to know her. And,” Frisk pauses, a strange glint entering their eyes. “She has a _huge_ crush on Alyphs, the Royal Scientist.”

Mom laughs a little. “Really? Wow. Does Alyphs like her back?”  
“Of course she does! They get together, in the end. If we do this right.”

“Then let’s do it right! What else about Undyne?”

“Wait,” I say. “What’s a crush? Isn’t that, like, violent?”

“No!” Mom pauses. “Actually, that’s one of the meanings. A crush the way we’re talking is liking someone romantically.”  
“Romantically?” Alex asks. Romance and things like that never has really made sense to Alex and I. It’s not like we’ve met very many people, but still, we’ve heard a lot. Both of us had heard when Toriel and Mom would talk quietly together around the fireplace, both of them thinking we were fast asleep.

They talked about what life was like before, mostly. Mom talked about the good times with someone named ‘James’ who I’m pretty sure is our father, but mom has never directly said he is. Still, it’s not like he could be anything else. She talked about loving him a lot and the horror and rage and distress of finding out he was cheating on her with her best friend. Mom told Toriel that she wonders if he ever truly loved her.

Toriel talked about Asgore and their children. She told Mom about the heartbreak of having Asriel and Chara make a plan to free them, and the plan not working. Toriel had been horrified by how Asgore had turned after their deaths, and held left him after he put the new rule to effect, the one where all humans who fell would be killed for their souls.

So Alex and I both know about love and what can happen. But what’s confusing is Mom saying that people should still love, and her saying that while she would never marry again, she might find someone she would love.

Ridiculous! Why would you love someone romantically! (How would you love someone romantically?)

“Yes, romantically. Anyway, Frisk, continue?”

“Okay. So Undyne is very deadly, but the way to beat her is to spare until you can run away and then run as fast as you can.”

“Can’t you always run away?”

“She makes your soul green so you can only move around a shield.”  
“Green? My soul is green already…”  
“Heh. Yeah. I wonder how that’ll work. But if you run away enough, you’ll get to Hotland, and she’ll be to hot in her armor to continue walking. She falls down and dies if you leave her. There’s a water cooler though! And if you splash her with some water, she lives.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah! And,” Frisk yawns. “The next boss is the one in-” they yawn again.

“Frisk, you should sleep. Actually, all of us should. Let’s clean all this-” Mom gestures to the remains of our dinner on the floor. “And then we should sleep. We’ll get breakfast at Grillby’s then go fight Papyrus. That sound good?”

“Yeah,” I say, climbing into bed. Alex simply nods, before collapsing next to me. I pull the covers up over her before rolling over on my side and looking directly at Frisk’s bed. I watch as Frisk gets in bed, and I see that their hair is moving slightly. Chara is rubbing their head, I think. I watch with interest before sleep consumes me. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my story! I really appreciate it! Look! We're almost to 20 kudos! 
> 
> Also, it's really nice to know you guys read this. I'd much rather write this story then do the school work I've been having, but knowing you guys are still reading this really helps me. I'm sorry I can't update as frequently as during the summer, but this updating schedule works so much better for me. Thank you!


	13. Papyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group goes to fight Papyrus. Something strange happens.

 We stand in the cold with snow up to our ankles and harsh winds cutting our faces. My children are scared, and Alex still looks sickly, but she has an expression on her face that’s a little hard to place at first. I think it’s her perseverance, shining through, ready to take on the new day.

Frisk looks determined. We have a plan for Papyrus, at least, so this fight should be fine. After this is Waterfall, which will be much warmer. Hopefully Alex can recover faster there.

“HUMANS! ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE… THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER,” He nods to Tina, who had told Sans all about how much she liked Mac and Cheese.

God, will I ever get to make it for her?

“THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER’S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. AND… WELL… THE SIGHT OF A HAPPY PAIR OF SIBLINGS.”

This isn’t the dialogue Frisk told us to expect. Frisk looks confused. But maybe he’ll spare us right now? That would be nice.

“I AM SORRY, HUMANS. BUT I HAVE TO PRACTICE ATTACKS ON MULTIPLE HUMANS. HOW ELSE WILL I BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD?”  
Aha! There it is! Creeping in the back of my head is the hot burn of being betrayed again. At least it’s only a small betrayal. Go to hell, James.

**_*Papyrus attacks!_** Chara appears, and the colors fade just a little as we enter the fight.

“Options?” I ask. It’s kind of clear that Alex is going to be out for this fight. All we can hope to do is keep her floating and end the fight as quickly as we can.

**_*You can Check, Insult, and Flirt._ **

“Check.”

**_*He likes to say: “Nyeh heh heh!”_ **

As if proving Chara’s point, Papyrus says “Nyeh heh heh!”

Bones come at us, but it’s easy to dodge. We don’t even have to move.

“We have to continue the fight. Flirting and insulting won’t get us anywhere. Spare,” Frisk says, taking a small step forward and making it so we are both standing in front of the twins.

“SO YOU WON’T FIGHT…THEN, LET’S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED ‘BLUE’ ATTACK!”

Bones fly at us from all directions, but they’re all blue.

“Stay!” I shout. This fight is easy, and I’m thinking that Alex can handle this just fine, when I remember something.

The bones turn us blue and we fall, just like Frisk says we would. Alex cries out as she falls.

“YOU’RE BLUE NOW. THAT’S MY ATTACK. NYEH HEH HEH HE- HUMAN, ARE YOU OKAY?”

“I’m fine!” Alex staggers to her feet and stumbles, her feet catching in the snow. It looks like she’s going to fall again when Chara runs up and grabs her.

“You can interact with us in the battles?” Tina looks wary and I don’t judge her for it. But I know that Chara needs to help us.

**_*Apparently._ **

“HUMANS? WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?”

“Nobody!”

**_*I’m going to lead Alex and narrate. I can do both._ **

“If you say you can…”

“S-sing?” Alex voice is weak. It catches me off-guard. I thought she was feeling better? What happened while she was dead?

**_*Of course._ **

And to the tune of something I don’t really recognize, we start fighting. Chara’s singing is beautiful, really. It’s doesn’t sound like any surface songs, so it must be a monster song. I like it, whatever it is.

* * *

 

She’s not alive, not really. She’s not did either though. She think’s it’s quite strange, staying alive after death. She’d be dead and gone if it was under normal circumstances, but this isn’t.

Unlike other dead souls, she has a goal. It’s the only thing keeping her long-dead green soul together. Without it, she’d be long gone. She’d be droplets of water evaporating in the heat of the sun. She’d be food to a starving person.

She has two goals, if you think about it. The first goal is to protect Her. She has to protect Her. Even when Her name is long gone, She’s still there, just like her. She’s more aware though. That’s what you get when you have someone to talk too.

Her second goal is to collect for Her. She only collects one thing, though. She takes pieces of the soul and slips them into her pockets. She takes her supplies and puts the soul back together.

It’s strange, talking to someone who can’t quite see you, can’t quite hear you. They can sense her, they can see her effects. But they can never see her. They can never hear her. They can never feel her.

But they always can.

When the Yellow One shatters, she takes little slips of the soul. The Yellow One dies to quickly too quickly to comfort her, which is a shame. At least she can’t see her slipping in to take a tiny soul shard. Nothing too major. The Yellow One will be fine.

She should not have shattered, though. He never hits that hard. Strange, are his morals changing?

They would never.

She has the urge to wrap her hands around Her body and pull Her in for a hug. But she can’t. She would be alarmed. Can’t have that.

She offers the Red One the chance that she always gives. The Red One choses to reload. Good choice.

Why is She crying? She will have to study emotions closer. The Yellow One should never have died. Never should have.

The Yellow One is too strong to die like that, that’s not how it should have been. Someone is fooling around with the code.

She knows who, she just doesn’t want to confront Him. She will wait.

She always does.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that! It's a late update! Sorry, I was busy this weekend and didn't get around to writing. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!  
> -love you guys!-


	14. short

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little slice of Tina perspective

I’m in a lot of pain. I don’t know why, but a bone sliced straight through my soul. I was doing fine! And Papyrus never kills anybody, why would he kill me?

There’s darkness, endless darkness, and the aching feeling of something missing. The only light in this entire space is my soul, but even it looks dim.

The pain is endless and I am alone.

Then there’s there’s a bright red light, and soft words that I can’t quite make out, and I’m thrown back into unforgiving reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR HOW SHORT THIS IS! I'm kind of stressed right now and also I don't actually know where I'm going with this story. Update schedule might be on hold until I get my act together, but hopefully that won't be long.
> 
> Sorry for any mistakes, I don't have a beta.
> 
> AND THANK YOU FOR READING THIS AND THANK YOU FOR TWENTY KUDOS!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> Don't forget to comment, because I would love to hear what you think!


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